Sterlite Power CEO Pratik Agarwal sees technology as game changer

MUMBAI: It is not unusual to spot mules carrying machinery up the treacherous roads of Jammu & Kashmir to help build infrastructure projects. Sometimes thousands in number, the mules are slow and prone to illness, protracting the project time frame by months if not years.

Pratik Agarwal, the new CEO of Sterlite Power Transmission, is about to change that. The mega transmission project that would have required 5,000 mules to station 160 transmission towers in the state will now need none as the company is bringing in heavy-lift helicopters from American firm Erickson to airlift the towers to the mountainous regions.

This is among the first few technology measures Agarwal is introducing to the company, which is in the process of demerging from Sterlite Technologies to avoid quarterly shareholder gaze. He has also tied up with Sharper Shape of Finland to fly drones to monitor grid disturbances, and with Burn & McDonnell to bring in new technology and design into transmission.

“I don’t think the next 30 years in power transmission will be anything like the last 30 years,” Agarwal told ET. “The problems of tomorrow will need investments in research and development, talent, patents and may be the use of new tools like big data analytics and virtual reality,” he said.

According to Agarwal, lack of land to build new transmission towers, integration of renewable energy and rising grid outages due to climate change will be some of the biggest problems the power sector will face in the future. He said the only way to transcend these challenges is through the use of disruptive technology.

“When Mumbai doubles its power requirement, where are you going to build the lines? How will you integrate the large amount of renewable energy that is getting created at a lightening pace?” said Agarwal. Sterlite partnered the US-based CTC to create high-performance conductors that allowed the company to replace low capacity wires with new wires of higher capacity in Delhi, increasing capacity substantially.

Agarwal expects the company to turn profitable by the end of this financial year as many projects are getting close to commissioning. Four out of nine projects are already commissioned and the company will look at equity divestments in them soon, he said.

Sterlite Power, one of India’s largest power transmission players, has a debt of about Rs 4,200 crore, 70-80% of which is at project level. With equity divestments in projects debt is likely to go down. For the nine-month period ended December 31, 2015, the power business earned revenue of Rs 1,827 crore with an EBIDTA of Rs 390 crore.

Agarwal, nephew of Vedanta Group founder Anil Agarwal, has hired a human resource consultancy Korn Ferry Hay Group to help evolve a company culture based on technology and innovation. Korn Ferry Hay Group is helping the company create an organisational structure, define the kind of talent needed and establish organisational culture.

Agarwal has also started a global search to fill the top position at its new organisation. He said he does not necessarily want people from the power sector to apply for the general management roles.

“I believe talent from outside the power sector will solve the power problems of tomorrow. It is a radical solution but the problem at hand is also radical,” Agarwal said. “We are looking for generalists like chief digital officer, chief marketing officer, chief image officer and chief technology officer,” he said.

Agarwal looks up to Tesla Motors and Space-X founder Elon Musk, who has revolutionised electric car market and brought down the cost of space travel. “It is essentially realising that disruptive technologies are going to pervade every industry and people are going to solve problems using disruptive technologies. Either you are in that boat or not,” he said.

Agarwal, 33, did his undergraduate degree from Wharton Business School and post-graduation from London Business School. He is a member of the Bombay Flying Club and manages to escape to the skies twice a month.

“Pratik has a brilliant mind. He brings a lot of conviction and speed to his decision-making. He is one of those rare business people who have a disciplined rigour in his own self-development through coaching and structured learning. (He is) definitely someone to watch in the coming years,” said Debabrat Mishra, senior client partner at Korn Ferry Hay Group.

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